In 2010-11 there were 77.1 million litres of pure alcohol available from beer, which is a decrease of 3.4% from 2009-10 (79.7 million litres). Full strength beer made up 82.5% of all beer available for consumption in 2010-11, followed by mid strength beer (13.2%) and low strength beer (4.3%).

TABLE 2: BEER, PURE ALCOHOL AVAILABLE FOR CONSUMPTION

Year ended 30 June

Low strength(a)

Mid strength(a)

Full strength(a)

Total

VOLUME OF PURE ALCOHOL ('000 litres)

2006

5 900

8 767

61 721

76 388

2007

5 381

9 366

63 131

77 849

2008

4 813

9 513

65 170

79 496

2009

4 247

9 862

67 040

81 148

2010

3 872

r10 143

r65 721

r79 736

2011

3 310

10 207

63 546

77 063

PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION OF PURE ALCOHOL(b) (litres)

2006

0.36

0.53

3.74

4.63

2007

0.32

0.56

3.76

4.63

2008

0.28

0.55

3.80

4.63

2009

0.24

0.56

3.82

4.62

2010

0.22

0.57

r3.67

r4.45

2011

0.18

0.56

3.49

4.23

(a) See paragraph 16 of the Explanatory Notes for definitions of low, mid and full strength beer.

(b) Litres per person aged 15 years and over.r revised

The volume of beer available for consumption decreased 3.8%, from 1,856.1 million litres in 2009-10 to 1,786.2 million litres in 2010-11. The volume of full strength beer decreased 3.6%, while low strength beer decreased 14.5%. Mid strength beer increased slightly (up 0.6%).

TABLE 3: BEER, VOLUME AVAILABLE FOR CONSUMPTION

Year ended 30 June

Low strength(a)

Mid strength(a)

Full strength(a)

Total

VOLUME ('000 litres)

2006

218 045

251 676

1 305 476

1 775 198

2007

199 581

268 017

1 337 286

1 804 884

2008

176 984

271 807

1 387 008

1 835 798

2009

156 906

281 793

1 434 112

1 872 810

2010

144 599

289 815

r1 421 697

r1 856 110

2011

123 602

291 579

1 371 049

1 786 230

PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION(b) (litres)

2006

13.21

15.25

79.09

107.54

2007

11.87

15.95

79.56

107.38

2008

10.32

15.84

80.84

107.00

2009

8.93

16.04

81.62

106.59

2010

r8.07

r16.17

r79.31

r103.54

2011

6.79

16.01

75.28

98.08

(a) See paragraph 16 of the Explanatory Notes for definitions of low, mid and full strength beer.